I think the US should seek both capitalistic and socialistic policies simultaneously, but this would require a revolution that may [not be possible / very difficult] to achieve from within the US political system because its "operating system" is tainted by lobbyists for the billionaires.
i. Restore corporate tax rates to historically high levels
ii. Increase capital gains tax significantly
iii. Tax speculation-derived activities, especially real estate and REITs
iv. Gradually curtail subsidies on field corn, currently occupying 5% of America's land (~100 million acres)
v. Shrink defense spending by half
vi. Enact single-payer healthcare for all eliminating co-insurance and better than Medicare up to UK NHS levels but without the government delivering healthcare directly; there shouldn't be good health insurance for just a few people with good jobs
vii. Greatly expand visas for engineers and entrepreneurs
viii. Also expand visas and professional certification "homologation" for teachers, lawyers, doctors, dentists, and researchers so they don't have to start over
ix. Invest in trade schools: plumbers, electricians, machinists
x. Invest in adult education, GED, and pre-college prep courseware
xi. Earmark funds and network applied STEM courses and internships for industry-practical training, especially for fabs, robotics, and high-tech manufacturing
xii. Invest in childcare and pre-K
xiii. Revisit tariff adjustments on a more frequent and selective basis
xiv. Entrepreneur incubators should get federal subsidies because they're generating wealth
xv. UBI - Everyone gets it without requirements excepted tapering down based on income
xvi. Small businesses should have even greater incentives in banking, real estate, state and federal bid contracts, and tax treatment
Shrink defense spending when Russia and China are gearing up for World domination?
I am from Europe, and in more immediate danger, but I would still hope US will defend any sort of democracy we have vs the threat of dictatorships. I know my country has helped out US with its wars.
Now is the time to increase those budgets, not decrease. Decreasing would actually increase the odds of WW3.
> i. Restore corporate tax rates to historically high levels
My gut feeling is that this would increase inflation, but I could be wrong.
> iv. Gradually curtail subsidies on field corn, currently occupying 5% of America's land (~100 million acres)
I would much rather the US spend $2.2B on corn subsidies so that we have food security in the event of a global catastrophe. I’d prefer eating nothing but corn flour/meal for years than starving to death.
> v. Shrink defense spending by half
As a (biased) US citizen, I would prefer keeping American Hegemony around, and that doesn’t happen without the massive military overspending the US does.
>I would much rather the US spend $2.2B on corn subsidies so that we have food security in the event of a global catastrophe. I’d prefer eating nothing but corn flour/meal for years than starving to death.
There are definitely other options, I’m not trying to present a false dilemma. My point is that spending 0.03% of total federal expenditures to guarantee food security is money well spent. Subsidizing other crops would work, it just happens to be easy to industrialize and automate corn farming and there’s plenty of good agricultural land in the US that is suited to grow corn.
i. Restore corporate tax rates to historically high levels
ii. Increase capital gains tax significantly
iii. Tax speculation-derived activities, especially real estate and REITs
iv. Gradually curtail subsidies on field corn, currently occupying 5% of America's land (~100 million acres)
v. Shrink defense spending by half
vi. Enact single-payer healthcare for all eliminating co-insurance and better than Medicare up to UK NHS levels but without the government delivering healthcare directly; there shouldn't be good health insurance for just a few people with good jobs
vii. Greatly expand visas for engineers and entrepreneurs
viii. Also expand visas and professional certification "homologation" for teachers, lawyers, doctors, dentists, and researchers so they don't have to start over
ix. Invest in trade schools: plumbers, electricians, machinists
x. Invest in adult education, GED, and pre-college prep courseware
xi. Earmark funds and network applied STEM courses and internships for industry-practical training, especially for fabs, robotics, and high-tech manufacturing
xii. Invest in childcare and pre-K
xiii. Revisit tariff adjustments on a more frequent and selective basis
xiv. Entrepreneur incubators should get federal subsidies because they're generating wealth
xv. UBI - Everyone gets it without requirements excepted tapering down based on income
xvi. Small businesses should have even greater incentives in banking, real estate, state and federal bid contracts, and tax treatment